CBR hoping that investors will be able to sell foreign equities on SPB Exchange

MOSCOW. Nov 9 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) and the SPB Exchange are analyzing the consequences of the imposed sanctions against the trading platform, and the regulator hopes that investors will be able to sell foreign securities before the expiration of the OFAC license, said Mikhail Mamuta, head of the CBR's Service for Consumer Protection and Financial Inclusion.

"Now first and foremost, the SPB Exchange and we are analyzing to a certain extent the consequences of the decisions made. For now, I want to say that thanks to the fact that the SPB Exchange kept operating this whole time, many investors managed to calmly exit foreign securities. I think that over 4 billion in equities were sold in the period from March 2022. This is a good indicator that shows that people understand the risks. And there is not much left on hand compared to what was there," Mamuta told reporters on the sidelines of the Finopolis forum.

"Given the decision, you know there is still a certain grace period there until the end of January, the relevant analysis is being done. But in principle everyone who wants to exit will be able to sell given the relevant deadlines. We hope so, but the relevant analysis is still underway," he added.

OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control, a division of the U.S. Department of the Treasury responsible for sanctions enforcement) added SPB Exchange to its sanctions list on November 2. After this announcement, trading in foreign and Russian securities on the exchange was suspended.

OFAC also issued a standard license for such cases to withdraw from the securities of SPB Exchange by January 31, 2024.

Trading in foreign securities has been suspended for compliance procedures, consultations with Russian and foreign counterparties will take at least seven working days, the exchange said on November 6.

Trading in Russian securities was resumed on November 3.